


Belladonna

by caleyedoscope



Category: Big Bang (Band), K-pop
Genre: Alternate Universe - Shapeshifters, Blood Drinking, F/M, M/M, Shapeshifting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-06
Updated: 2013-11-06
Packaged: 2017-12-31 17:06:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1034176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/caleyedoscope/pseuds/caleyedoscope
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Seunghyun takes in a shape shifter to make some extra money. He thinks he’s prepared for it, but the shape shifter is nothing like he had expected, and his life is turned upside down.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Belladonna

**Author's Note:**

> inspired by [this remix](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4N2JmCy8y2I) because it is creepy.
> 
> written 08/06/2011

  
  
Seunghyun’s not sure he’ll ever get used to the sound of Jiyong feeding on his prey in the next room.   
  
He stares at the ceiling, listening to the sounds of the woman moaning through the wall. He can well imagine Jiyong’s fingers tracing her skin, peeling off layers of her clothes, her body tangled in his sheets, her breath coming in gasps right before Jiyong goes for her aorta, his patterned clothing forming scales on his skin.  
  
There’s no sugar coating it. It’s messy, it’s vicious, it’s cruel, but it’s the law. It’s  _legal_ , and it has to be done. It is done, and Seunghyun is one of the many that makes sure it stays that way. It’s a new venture for him, but so far, the money he’s earning makes it worth his while.  
  
Even though yeah, Seunghyun will never be used to it. He waits for her screaming to stop, picturing scaly flesh sliding up her body and wrapping around her throat. He imagines fangs sinking into a thigh, a shoulder, a palm, and sees the blood seeping out slowly, sliding down Jiyong’s throat even as he shifts back into his human form.  
  
Seunghyun calculates the cost of a body to cremate, a family to compensate, even though he already knows.  
  
Jiyong stumbles into his room half morphed, his eyes still slitted in their snake form, scales decorating the spaces between his joints and disappearing into his skin. His incisors shine with venom, one hundred times more potent from all the blood and Seunghyun sits up, already ready with a vial. Jiyong’s fangs bury into the top of it and he collapses, curling easily in Seunghyun’s comforter, pillowing his head against Seunghyun’s knee. As the venom leaves him, the signs of his transformation disappear and Seunghyun strokes back Jiyong’s hair, “You did so well,” he croons, because he’s heard that they like encouragement. And he wants to be close to Jiyong, would very much like to trust Jiyong and have that trust returned.  
  
The fangs retract as a last few drips of poison plink into the vial and Seunghyun pulls it away, stowing it carefully into his bedside table. Jiyong crawls up to the pillow and promptly passes out, blood drying on his mouth. Seunghyun sighs, the sound carrying in the now silent room and he stands, wetting a cloth in the bathroom and wiping down Jiyong’s body with it.  
  
Jiyong mumbles in sleep and Seunghyun smiles, thinking that seeing Jiyong like this, happy and warm and content, makes it easy to forget that he just killed someone, that Seunghyun makes money when Jiyong kills someone and that it’s okay.  
  
Seunghyun rings for a servant and tells him to clean up the mess in Jiyong’s room, relieved for the millionth time that he is a Guardian and that he only needs to collect venom and house his shape shifter, happy that he doesn’t have to get rid of bodies and scrub blood out of the mattress with bleach.  
  
He leaves when he’s sure Jiyong’s sleeping. Seunghyun doesn’t like sharing a bed.   
  
\--  
  
The first girl Seunghyun brings home, after he’s housed Jiyong for a few weeks, almost dies because the shape shifter thinks she’s for him. There’s a glint in his eye as the three of them eat a candlelight dinner, and Seunghyun catches him following the pale column of the girl’s throat.   
  
“Not tonight,” Seunghyun tells him, after dessert and drinks, and Jiyong hisses at him. “This one is for me. If you need blood you can ask Youngbae to go to the market for you. Or there’s blood in the refrigerator, if you don’t mind it being processed.”  
  
Seunghyun had wanted to take her to bed, but somehow, the thought of the shape shifter being upset spoils the mood. So Seunghyun ignores her for the most part, even as she traces her fingers up and down his arm, calls him  _Guardian_  in some sort of cat like purr that makes him wonder if she’s an illegal shape shifter, and only vaguely responds to her advances.  
  
When Jiyong comes back, he has a girl in little black dress clutching his hand. Seunghyun watches them as they walk upstairs, wondering if Jiyong’s knows her name, wondering if Jiyong’s going to fuck her first or just going to tear out her neck with his poisoned teeth.   
  
“You should go,” he tells his date.  _You should go before the screaming starts_.  
  
Except, there is no screaming. He sends the girl home, takes a shower, has a midnight snack, and finally decides to peek in on Jiyong. It’s nothing he hasn’t seenbefore, but as he slides his gaze around the door, it actually is something he’s never seen: Jiyong reading a book, the girl curled into his lap, sleeping.  
  
It’s picture perfect, Seunghyun has to admit, and it stops his breath. He wonders what she said, or what Jiyong said, for them to be so comfortable with one another in such a short space of time. Seunghyun stares, feeling a little hollow until the shape shifter looks up at him, eyes glinting.  
  
“What?” Jiyong asks sourly, “If you can do it, so can I.”  
  
Seunghyun’s not a jealous person (he tells himself very firmly that he has no reason to be jealous, none at all,) and so leaves them be. He had, as Jiyong had pointed out, just done the same exact thing.  
  
\--  
  
The fourth night of no blood, stored or fresh, comes and goes, but Seunghyun doesn’t actually do anything about it until he notices the way Jiyong starts to hiss a lot more. Seunghyun has to lock the shape shifter in a room with a girl from the marketplace. She figures out early on that she hasn’t been bought for work or even just sex and it seems as though Jiyong lets her scream in terror for a good hour.  
  
Then she abruptly falls silent and Seunghyun wonders how Jiyong killed her. Seunghyun unlocks the door and goes to his bedroom to wait. It isn’t long until Jiyong slinks inside, pristine for once, save for the blood rimming his mouth and venom dripping from his teeth.  
  
Seunghyun sits with his back straight and doesn’t encourage Jiyong, barely touches him, and ignores the hand that tries to grab at his own. Seunghyun’s mad and he wants Jiyong to know it.  
  
“I’m  _sorry_ ,” Jiyong whispers, still trying to hold onto some part of Seunghyun’s body.  
  
Seunghyun seals the vial. “Get some sleep.”  
  
He’s not there to comfort Jiyong. He’s there to provide blood, and in return, receives a stipend for his trouble. And that’s how it is, no questions asked, no eyebrows raised, because keeping shape shifters housed means keeping most of the general population safe.   
  
Seunghyun slips the vial into a refrigeration safe he keeps hidden in his den. He has enough venom now to sell more than the amount that will go to the government. It will earn him at least one or two million won, perhaps several million if he can find the right buyer.  
  
He starts the task of doling out the venom milliliter by milliliter, entertaining himself by separating each drop to the beat of the music coming from his stereo. An hour later he sees a shadow seep across the carpet and knows Jiyong’s watching him. He doesn’t turn around.   
  
“Yes?”  
  
Arms slip drape around him from behind and Seunghyun tries to keep from shoving them away. It hadn’t taken him long to notice Jiyong’s constant need for touch, and Seunghyun’s sure he’ll never fully understand it, though he is slowly learning to not mind it.  _We need to trust each other_ , he reminds himself, and stays still.  
  
“Will you get a lot of money?”  
  
“Yes,” Seunghyun answers shortly.  
  
He can feel Jiyong’s face press into his shoulder and closes his eyes, trying hard to control his breathing, reminding himself that he’s a Guardian, that Jiyong’s a shape shifter, and that they have  _duties_. Though, he knows, it’s easy to say  _we_ , even though there isn’t a we and there can’t be a we, because that just makes everything very complicated.  
  
“I’m sorry.”  
  
Seunghyun finally pauses, setting down the vials carefully and turning. “You cannot refuse blood.” He frowns, noting the scales clinging to the corners of Jiyong’s eyes and the way his nose seems a little more flattened. “ _Jiyong_ ,” he murmurs, feeling a little guilty, because if he hadn’t been so irrationally upset he would have made the shifter eat sooner. “I’m the one that should be sorry,” Seunghyun finally whispers. “Come on.”  
  
Jiyong needs no encouragement, his fangs already cutting into his bottom lip in anticipation as he follows Seunghyun to his bedroom.  
  
It’s only ever supposed to be done in emergencies, but no one needs to know, as far as Seunghyun’s concerned. His shape shifter needs more blood and the market is closed this late at night. So he lets Jiyong bite into his wrist and suck. He’s immune to the venom, as all Guardians are, the only side effect a welcome one: instantaneous numbing of the wounds, and he lets Jiyong cradle and stroke his arm until the last scale on his skin disappears. They get another vial of venom for their trouble and Seunghyun knows this one alone is worth a fortune—venom made of Guardian blood always is.  
  
He hopes that maybe now Jiyong will trust him a little more, that maybe Jiyong will know Seunghyun only has his best interests at heart, that maybe Jiyong will never starve himself again.  
  
Seunghyun pets at Jiyong’s hair as the shape shifter licks the puncture wounds clean. Jiyong goes for the first aid kit himself and even though he radiates contentment, and probably would like to just collapse beside Seunghyun in exhaustion, he doesn’t, wrapping Seunghyun’s wrist meticulously in gauze. It’s sweet, because the wounds have already closed; Seunghyun recognizes the gesture and appreciates it.  
  
They don’t speak, sitting in comfortable silence until Jiyong falls asleep. Seunghyun goes to pour himself a glass of champagne, and doesn’t go to bed until he’s sure his blood sugar is back to normal.  
  
\--  
  
Jiyong starts to eat regularly, even if it’s just donated blood, and there’s a steady stream of venom being sold to high end buyers which means a steady stream of cash flowing into Seunghyun’s bank account. He keeps the bottle made from his blood, however, waiting until he finds someone willing to pay its actual worth—and then some.  
  
Jiyong becomes more of a person, developing quirks and traits Seunghyun finds beyond amusing. The shape shifter starts picking up after himself, then picking up after Seunghyun, and snapping at servants when they don’t clean his room properly after a feeding.  
  
“I just,” he explodes one day, while Seunghyun is attending to his bookkeeping in the den, “Can they  _not_?”  
  
“Clean?” Seunghyun jokes.  
  
“ _Fail at everything_ ,” Jiyong hisses, “I don’t want the next person to smell the blood of the last person before I even get them in bed.”  
  
“Do it yourself, then,” Seunghyun shrugs.  
  
“Can you be supportive, please?”  
  
“We’re not married,” Seunghyun returns easily and ducks out of the den door, Jiyong left gaping.   
  
It feels a little wonderful, until Jiyong comes after him, poking him savagely in the side. It’s more funny than anything, and Seunghyun laughs until Jiyong finally points his finger at Seungyun’s nose to say, “You have flab,” and then takes his leave, looking very satisfied with himself.  
  
“Bastard,” Seunghyun says to the empty corridor, because he’s the one that’s supposed to walk out first, he’s the one that’s supposed to call the shots. “Bastard,” he says again, and wonders when he started to care.  
  
\--  
  
“The fuck is going on?”  
  
A servant is sprawled out on the floor, two puncture wounds visible on his neck. Jiyong is looming over him, but his fangs retract as soon as he hears Seunghyun’s voice, blood still dripping from his mouth. He takes a step back, and then another and then ducks behind Seunghyun, breathing hard. They have an audience made up of Seunghyun’s servants.  
  
“He tackled me from behind,” Jiyong says, and it sounds scarily inhuman.  
  
“He  _bit_  me,” the servant retorts. It’s obvious to Seunghyun that some of Jiyong’s venom had gotten into the servant’s bloodstream because he is sweating and looks several shades paler than should be normal.  
  
“Well he’s a shape shifter,” Seunghyun says, “Unless you want to get bit, you should leave him alone. Someone not involved tell me what happened.”  
  
Seunghyun only half listens (as he had thought, Jiyong had been provoked) and he glares at the man, feeling no remorse. Jiyong is gripping his arm tight and Seunghyun is sure the shifter needs blood, especially after tasting a little of the servant’s. He sighs.  
  
“Allow me to make myself clear,” Seunghyun says, speaking to the crowd, “Aggravating, provoking, hurting, or otherwise irritating Jiyong in any way will not be tolerated. This is a Guardian’s House, and if you don’t like it, you can leave, and I will find other staff to take your place. Any antagonization is unacceptable. You,” he points to the man who is still shaking from the venom, “Pack your shit and get out. I don’t ever want to see your face here again or I will let Jiyong finish what he started. Is that clear?”  
  
The man nods, but remains frozen.   
  
“Move,” Seunghyun barks, and the few employees that had gathered, scatter. “Come on,” Seunghyun says.  
  
This, Seunghyun thinks, classifies as an emergency, and Jiyong seems to agree, already clawing at Seunghyun’s shirt several steps before they get to the bedroom. Seunghyun lets him tear a hole, even though it is an expensive shirt, and Jiyong’s teeth sink into his shoulder. Seunghyun just lets him drink, confident Jiyong would only take just enough and he does, stopping just as Seunghyun starts to feel a little dizzy. It takes a few tries for both of them to get Jiyong’s teeth in the vial, but they do, and by the time Jiyong’s fully human again, another vial has venom spilling over the top and Seunghyun is ravenously hungry.  
  
Jiyong cleans his wounds again, though this time he doesn’t bother with the gauze, far too exhausted to move. “Thank you,” he says, when he’s done.  
  
“You needed blood.”  
  
“No,” Jiyong clarifies, “I mean, thank you for sticking up for me. Not everyone would do that.”  
  
“I’m your Guardian,” Seunghyun says, and that is all. He is a Guardian and Jiyong is a shape shifter and that’s just how it is.  
  
Seunghyun lets Jiyong curl up beside him, his face resting on Seunghyun’s arm and it’s minutes before his features go slack. In a moment of weakness, Seunghyun brushes at Jiyong’s cheekbone with his knuckles. He knows he probably shouldn’t, but with Jiyong pressed up against him, looking for all the world like a normal human being -- like a _beautiful_  human being -- remaining dispassionate is proving to be very difficult.  
  
“This is not what I signed up for,” Seunghyun murmurs, and leaves before he does something he’ll regret.  
  
\--  
  
The first vial of Guardian venom sells for a hundred million won.  
  
Seunghyun is rather proud of himself for finding a buyer. He doesn’t tell Jiyong how much it was worth, but he sets up a bank account for the shape shifter, and then a credit card, and tells him to buy things with it. It’s his venom, after all, and Seunghyun has another vial he can keep for himself.  
  
Boxes start arriving the next week, and Seunghyun smiles approvingly, happy Jiyong can amuse himself. He likes to think he treats Jiyong well, unlike a lot of the other Guardians he knows.  
  
“What do people use my venom for?” Jiyong asks him one night. He had clearly been trying to look it up (on a computer he had bought himself,) but as Seunghyun could have told him, unless you have access to certain military libraries, there isn’t a very good shape shifter reference book out there. The general population knows what the government wants them to know, and nothing more.  
  
“Lots of thing,” Seunghyun shrugs, “Antidotes for rogue shape shifters, poison for assassins; I read yesterday that someone had figured out how to make jewels out of it.”  
  
“Oh,” Jiyong says, in a way that clearly indicates his displeasure, “I guess it’s good that they can make antidotes, though I don’t really think I like the idea of them using my venom as a weapon.”  
  
Seunghyun swallows. “Me neither,” he says, “It’s far too precious for that.” Neither of them say anything after that and Jiyong goes back to his computer. The sound of Jiyong typing on it lulls Seunghyun to sleep and he only wakes up when Youngbae knocks on the door. He’s returned from the market, Seunghyun knows, and that means there’s a girl waiting for Jiyong in his room.  
  
He brightens a bit at the prospect of blood, and Seunghyun watches him leave, a bounce to his step.  
  
There isn’t any screaming that night, and Seunghyun finds himself irritated because he thought they had gone over this. He hopes that he’s wrong, but when he looks in on Jiyong, Seunghyun finds that he’s not. He shuts the door, so as not to scare the servants.  
  
“What are you doing?”  
  
Jiyong looks up, blood smudged on his lips, his hand in between the woman’s legs to keep her properly distracted, and grins. “Eating,” he says, and bends back down to her neck, licking delicately. The woman moans.  
  
“Jiyong,  _what are you doing_ ”  
  
Seunghyun’s not stupid. He’s done his research. Shape shifters need a lot of blood. They need a body full of warm blood at least twice a week to produce the amount of venom the government requires of them.  
  
Jiyong takes his hand away as the woman’s body finally curls in pleasure and he wipes it on the linens. “She’s married,” he says, “With children.”   
  
Oh.  
  
“I’m not that hungry anyway,” he continues, “You can use her, right? In the kitchen, or something.”  
  
“Jiyong,” Seunghyun frowns.  
  
“Just this once.” He takes a final lick, a final suck, before pulling away. “I didn’t feel like killing her,” he says, with an air of finality, and stands, a little shaky. Seunghyun catches his elbow. “I have enough for a vial at least,” Jiyong drawls, and curls a hand behind Seunghyun’s neck.  
  
He might have enough venom, Seunghyun knows, but it won’t be as potent and he’s sure the government won’t take it. “More,” he says firmly.  
  
Jiyong pouts.   
  
“Jiyong, I’m telling you to take more.”  
  
“She has a family,” Jiyong says.  
  
“I’m your Guardian,” Seunghyun retorts.  
  
“Make me, then,” Jiyong challenges.  
  
Seunghyun’s never seen him like this. There’s a fire in his eyes that hasn’t been there before, a defiant edge to them that actually makes Seunghyun nervous. “I can’t make you do anything,” he whispers.  
  
Jiyong stares at him and then, with a growl, wrenches the door open and Seunghyun stands there as it falls to the floor with a bang, its hinges pulled out of the frame.  
  
\--  
  
She’s a fair cook, as it turns out, and a flirt, now that Seunghyun has told her she can’t go back to her family. Mourn she does not, and Seunghyun wonders if maybe she had lied to Jiyong in order to live. When she starts to grope Seunghyun’s ass, he’s is sure of it and tells Jiyong firmly, “Get her off my back; she’s  _your_  leftovers.” The shape shifter rolls his eyes, but he tells her if she's up for doing things in bed, he’s  _rather_  hungry. Though, he adds, she shouldn’t misunderstand him, because the next time they’re in bed together, she will not be making it out alive.  
  
It shuts her up, at least for a little while, before she starts in on Seunghyun again, though a little less publicly.   
  
“You’re sweet,” Seunghyun tells her, “But you’re supposed to be dead. We can’t have a relationship.”  
  
“Well then can we just have fun?” She asks, and smiles, trailing a finger over Seunghyun’s jawline. “Tonight. No attachments. No complications. Just the two of us.”  
  
It’s actually a lot more enticing than Seunghyun wants to admit. He’s a man, after all, a healthy man, a  _needy_  man and it has been awhile since he’s seen to any of those needs. “Perhaps,” he says, with a smile.   
  
Her hand lingers on his arm and he takes the liberty of tugging her close, nudging her head back with a quick kiss. He wonders why he had originally said no; she felt  _good_ against him.  
  
“Don’t tell your pet,” she whispers, “He doesn’t like me anymore.”  
  
“You lied to him,” Seunghyun points out.  
  
“A little,” the woman admits, and it’s obvious she has no guilt over it. “He hasn’t killed me yet, though.”  
  
 _He still might,_  Seunghyun thinks, as she grips his shirt to pull down his mouth. Technically, with the fang marks still on her neck, she belongs to Jiyong, she is  _his_  to do with as he pleases, but as her hand slides across Seunghyun’s chest, Seunghyun thinks that what Jiyong doesn’t know can’t possibly hurt him.  
  
“I’ll see you tonight,” Seunghyun murmurs, thinking about the government official coming in the next few minutes to collect the venom.   
  
She grins at him, and squeezes his ass as he leaves.  
  
\--  
  
They sleep together for a week until Jiyong finds out.  
  
She’s good in bed, and Seunghyun likes her, though he has a suspicion she was supposed to have been sold for sex, but had done something against the rules and been sold for blood instead.  
  
It’s usually late at night, when Jiyong is passed out after a feeding, that Seunghyun sneaks downstairs and pounds her hips into her little bed as she moans into his ear and leaves marks down his back. He doesn’t get naked for just anyone, he tells her, and makes her come twice before he’s finished.   
  
The night Jiyong sees them, she has Seunghyun pressed up against a wall, and she’s deep throating him, and Jiyong’s eyes are slitted as he peeks through the crack in the door, his face cold and pale as he watches Seunghyun come down her throat. Seunghyun ignores him as she plies for attention and turns away from the door, burying his face into her hair, breathing hard, and sliding a hand between her legs. She trembles effortlessly for him, and he kisses the scars on her neck, thinking she looks marginally attractive like this. Almost as good as Jiyong.  
  
“More,” she murmurs into his ear, tugging him towards her bed.  
  
“No,” Seunghyun tells her, “Not tonight. Go to sleep.”  
  
She tucks herself into bed naked and he really, really wants to follow her but he knows he can’t. He finds himself kissing her cheek after searching the floor for his clothes. He thinks he might have put his shirt on inside out; it’s actually kind of hard to tell.   
  
“Tomorrow?” she asks coyly.  
  
“We’ll see,” Seunghyun replies, and walks out.  
  
Jiyong is pretending to sleep when he gets back to the room. Seunghyun changes, dumping his clothes into a hamper for his servants to take out, and climbs into bed beside him. “You didn’t want her,” he says, but Jiyong doesn’t respond.   
  
Seunghyun pretends to sleep as well, pretends to respond automatically as Jiyong finally moves closer, pretends to not mind as Jiyong wraps an arm around his waist, pretends to not hear as Jiyong says, “I want  _you_.”  
  
Seunghyun feels guilty, so he waits until Jiyong’s breathing evens out before climbing out of bed and going to sleep in his den.  
  
\--  
  
He’s still pretending when he wakes up. He expects Jiyong to say something, anything, about what he saw, but he doesn’t. Seunghyun watches him carefully, but the only difference he sees, that he supposes is significant, is that Jiyong takes the vials out of Seunghyun’s nightstand and moves them into his own room.   
  
Youngbae brings in girls, boys, other people of questionable gender, and Jiyong kills them, or at least, Seunghyun hears them screaming and he assumes that Jiyong’s killing him. He also assumes Jiyong’s getting rid of his venom and is just going to give it to him in large quantities.  
  
But he doesn’t.  
  
Youngbae pulls him aside one night and tells him that Jiyong is killing the people, but he isn’t drinking their blood. All he does is bleed them out all over his bed as he holds them down.   
  
Seunghyun has no idea how to handle this and feels a little under equipped.  
  
But he knows he has to confront Jiyong, and chooses to burst in on him one night after he hears the first scream. Seunghyun does not expect to find the woman he’s been fucking for the past few weeks laid out on Jiyong’s bed. Her throat is half shredded, her hands clutching at it as Jiyong’s licks his lips, his skin glittering with bits of scale.  
  
“How heroic,” Jiyong says, sounding so inhuman Seunghyun’s blood runs cold.  
  
“Youngbae says you haven’t been eating.”  
  
“You’ve decided to care about me now?” Jiyong asks, tracing a bloody hand down the woman’s front, sinking his teeth into her breast and pulling away, watching the blood spill out as she writhes in pain.   
  
 _He really is just killing them,_ , Seunghyun thinks, disgusted, and lowers his gaze. “I’ve always cared for you,” he says, thinking that he’s a disgrace to Guardians all over the world, “You’ve just stopped caring about yourself.”  
  
The moans of pain stop and Jiyong is soon standing in front of him, frowning. There’s a little blood on his mouth and cheeks but he doesn’t bother to wipe it away. Seunghyun reaches out and does it for him. “Why are you so upset?”  
  
He knows why -- they both know why, Jiyong had whispered it to Seunghyun not to long ago -- but as soon as he’s asked it, he wishes he hadn’t. He’s not ready to talk about that yet. So he offers Jiyong a way out. “Is it because she lied to you? About being married and having children?”  
  
Surprise flits across Jiyong’s face for a moment before his eyes narrow and he hisses, “Yes.”  
  
“They lie all the time. They don’t want you to kill them, Jiyong, you know this.”  
  
Seunghyun looks back at the woman who is still shaking, one hand clutching at the thread of skin left on her throat and the other pressing against her breast; Seunghyun vaguely remembers kissing that breast. “Do you want to kill her or not?”  
  
“I don’t want another drop of her blood,” Jiyong says.  
  
He’s shaking too, and as much as he feels bad for the woman, Seunghyun’s a Guardian, and Jiyong is his priority. “For now,” he says to the woman, “I will let you stay here, but I can’t sell you to someone else, and if Jiyong doesn’t want you, then no one else will. So I suggest you start thinking about ways you can earn your keep.”   
  
“Ways that do not involve sex or your body,” Jiyong corrects, and Seunghyun doesn’t argue.  
  
He grabs Jiyong’s wrist and leads him away, stopping Youngbae in the hallway and asking him to tend to the woman’s wounds.   
  
Seunghyun crosses his arms in front of Jiyong as he sits down on Seunghyun’s bed. The woman may belong to Jiyong, but he belongs to Seunghyun, and Seunghyun is downright frustrated. “I’m only going to say this once,” he says, “You need to drink blood. I don’t know what your problem is, but if you don’t start to act like a shape shifter there will be dire consequences and you will not like them. Do I make myself clear?”  
  
Jiyong nods.  
  
Seunghyun gets a washcloth from his bathroom and wets it, coming back and instructing Jiyong to undress, clearing his face and neck of blood, then his arms, hands, and knees. “You’re crazy,” Seunghyun finally says, “How long have you gone without blood?”  
  
Jiyong doesn’t answer but Seunghyun can do that math well enough. It had been at least two weeks. “You need  _something_ ,” he says, “Come here.” It’s the third time he’s offering himself, but he doesn’t think he’s been rash with any of them. This time, out of all three, Jiyong needs it the most, and Seunghyun is finally aware of just how pale Jiyong actually is, how thin and starved he looks, how ragged his breathing is, how dark the skin underneath his eyes is. Seunghyun has a stab of guilt and lets Jiyong rip his shirt into shreds.  
  
Seunghyun offers his wrist but Jiyong ignores him, his fingers turning cold against Seunghyun's arm, his mouth turning blue against Seunghyun's brachial artery, his nose and tongue tracing it up to Seunghyun's shoulder, his breath fluttering the frayed edges of Seunghyun's shirt. The lips slide like ice against his neck.  
  
"No," Seunghyun tries to sound forceful and decisive.  
  
"Please," Jiyong murmurs, the warm breath a startling contrast to his cold skin, and a shudder racks Seunghyun's body and he wonders if this is how it is: is this what it feels like in the moments before Jiyong bites into his victims and sucks the life out of them? "Please," Jiyong says again, and Seunghyun can’t refuse him.  
  
The pain is numbed instantaneously, warmth spreading out from Jiyong's bite. Seunghyun breathes shallow, watching Jiyong's hand as it curls tight in Seunghyun's shirt, as he unconsciously slides up Seunghyun's body, angling himself better. He pulls away for just a moment, enough for Seunghyun to suck in a deep breath and hear Jiyong whisper, " _so good_ ," before the fangs descend again.  
  
He's sure Jiyong isn't going to kill him but Seunghyun wonders when he'll stop.  Feeling bold, and a little overcome by the throbbing in his neck that is becoming unbearably pleasurable, Seunghyun raises an arm to run his fingers through Jiyong's hair. It's light, smooth, and Seunghyun has a sudden urge to tug at it, to pull Jiyong's mouth up to his own and--  
  
He shuts his eyes as a wave of dizziness washes over him, his hand clutching the back of Jiyong's neck hard. “Slow down,” he murmurs. The puncture marks throb and Seunghyun actually finds himself aroused, more than the woman had ever made him, as Jiyong settles against him again, hands holding his head at an angle as he drinks, and drinks, and doesn’t pull away until Seunghyun lets out a little moan, heady with sensations, darkness closing in fast.  
  
When he opens his eyes, Jiyong is staring at him, licking blood --  _Seunghyun's_  blood -- from his lips, his fangs dripping venom down his chin.  He has more scales on his skin than usual, glittering in the low light, looking for all the world like make up, like jewels stuck on with a clear glue.  
  
Seunghyun feels lethargic, but manages to hoist himself up on pillows a little and fumble for a vial. A lot of venom has escaped Jiyong already, but as soon as he clutches the vial to his mouth, it gushes from him, and Seunghyun can't imagine how sick Jiyong had to feel with all of that poison inside of him. Seunghyun’s too tired to do anything so he holds Jiyong as he fills not one vial, but two. When there's nothing left, Seunghyun thinks he's never seen Jiyong look more like a man than right then, at that exact moment. It's electrifying.  
  
Jiyong leans down again, licking at the wound, carefully closing it, sighing happily as Seunghyun runs a hand down his back. He shouldn't have, but he is warm, and Jiyong’s mouth is warm, and his  _body_  is warm. Jiyong feels good pressed up against him, and Seunghyun has a sudden desire to just touch him, to know what his body feels like when it's fully and incontrovertibly  _man_.  
  
"Sleep," he says instead, and pretends that his hands don't shake. He stuffs one under his head as he turns onto his side, and Jiyong wraps himself into the covers. It takes seconds for his breathing to even out. Seunghyun lays there quietly, watching Jiyong as he sleeps, trying very hard to curb his sudden desire to touch.   
  
Jiyong is a shape shifter and Seunghyun would never and will never demand anything untoward. He actually cannot fathom making Jiyong do anything he doesn't want, but the problem is that he thinks Jiyong might want it as much as Seunghyun himself seems to want it.  
  
He stays a little longer, swallowing hard as Jiyong eventually rolls into his side, squished up against him, and Seunghyun forgets that Jiyong kills people, forgets that Seunghyun is the one who brings him people to kill, and forgets that their relationship is strictly business—that they have no relationship, actually.   
  
He pushes the thought aside, happy to just stare at the lines in Jiyong's forehead as they dissolve in his sleep, and Seunghyun is once again struck by how normal and unassuming Jiyong looks.  _I care_ , he thinks,  _I care, I care, I care, and I shouldn’t._  
  
But Seunghyun stays anyway. He wraps an arm around Jiyong's middle and he stays.  
  
\--  
  
"Sorry," is the first thing Seunghyun hears when he wakes up. Jiyong is sitting up, wrapped in sheets, his hair askew. He’s holding a mug of something up against his face, the steam of it raising up past his forehead.   
  
“If you’re apologizing for being an ass,” Seunghyun mutters, “I accept. If you’re apologizing for not eating, I do not accept unless it comes with a promise to never starve yourself again, especially not over a woman.”  
  
There’s a pause, and then a slurp as Jiyong takes another sip, and Seunghyun realizes that Jiyong poured himself a mug of blood from the freezer stores and is sipping it like it’s his morning tea. “I promise,” the shape shifter says.  
  
Seunghyun tries very hard not to throw up. “Please don’t drink that in front of me.”  
  
“I mixed it with coffee,” Jiyong says brightly, like it’s the most brilliant idea ever, “It’s not so stale this way.”  
  
“I do not care,” Seunghyun tells him, “If you have venom you need to get rid of, please do it without me. Ugh. Now I don’t think I’ll ever be able to drink coffee again.”  
  
“Lies,” Jiyong snorts, but he gets up off the bed and puts the mug on a dresser, far enough away so that Seunghyun can’t smell it. “I wish you knew how good it tastes.”  
  
“I’m glad I don’t.” He pulls the covers back up over his head, rolling onto his stomach. “No offense. Now go away, I have a headache and I want to sleep.”  
  
“You taste better,” Jiyong continues.  
  
“I hope that’s not supposed to console me” Seunghyun groans into his pillow, and then chokes out a surprised yell as something flops onto him heavily and digs fingers into his back. It hurts, but in a way that means Jiyong might actually know what he’s doing, and so Seunghyun focuses on breathing as Jiyong makes his muscles relax. “Why are you so good at this?”  
  
“Helps to suck out blood if the body is nice and loose,” Jiyong says quietly, as his fingers knead into Seunghyun’s neck.  
  
“You’re not getting any blood out of me for awhile.”  
  
“I know, “Jiyong says and Seunghyun can picture his grin, “I feel amazing right now, though, I don’t know why I was so stupid. You’re going to have to hold me down from now on; I’m going to eat everything in sight.”  
  
“Please leave the servants alone,” Seunghyun says, “We need them.”  
  
Jiyong just laughs and Seunghyun feels a little better, though he doesn’t trust Jiyong fully yet. He may say he’s going to stop starving himself, but he had said it before, and look what that had gotten them. “Jiyong,” Seunghyun mumbles, “I meant what I said. Dire consequences if you don’t eat.”  
  
“And I meant what I said,” Jiyong replies, jabbing a forefinger into Seunghyun’s neck, “It isn’t going to happen again. Okay? Not even if you sleep with that woman for the rest of your life.”  
  
The woman, Seunghyun thinks, who is the real problem here. “She’s,” Seunghyun says carefully, “She’s yours. I may be your Guardian, but she belongs to you, and if you don’t want her, or don’t want anyone touching her, no one will.”  
  
Jiyong’s hands stop. “Then why did you sleep with her?”  
  
And quite suddenly, it’s  _serious time_ , and Seunghyun is ill prepared for it. “I,” he starts, “Well.”  _It was just sex_ , he wants to say, because it had been, but he somehow thinks that Jiyong won’t really accept that as an answer. “You didn’t tell me no,” Seunghyun says instead.  
  
“You originally asked me to fend her off,” Jiyong reminds him, “I didn’t think you were interested.”  
  
 _Point_ , Seunghyun thinks, but neither of them had taken into consideration that they are  _men_  with  _needs_. “I guess she got to me,” Seunghyun shrugs, and they lapse back into silence, Jiyong’s fingers working into Seunghyun’s neck and shoulders again.  
  
“I’d rather you got rid of her.”  
  
“Okay,” Seunghyun says, “I’ll get rid of her.” He has no idea how to accomplish this, but he’ll ask around.  _Youngbae might know,_  Seunghyun muses to himself, and hums happily as Jiyong rolls back onto the bed, settling down beside him. “Tha’was nice,” Seunghyun slurs, pulling Jiyong flush against him. He feels fingers interlock with his own and he sighs as their breathing evens out.  
  
Just before sleep claims him again, Seunghyun decides that he has to say it, whether or not Jiyong is still awake enough to hear him.   
  
“I want you, too.”  
  
\--  
  
A week later, a servant girl (who had obviously heard the rumors) propositions Seunghyun rather slyly and tells him  _hey, I’ll be in my room all alone later tonight_. He makes it as far as her door handle before turning away. It’s a bad idea, especially considering the way Jiyong had eyed him suspiciously over dinner.  _You need to learn from your mistakes_ , Seunghyun tells himself. He’s Jiyong’s Guardian, and if that means not seeing to his aforementioned needs, then so be it. He trudges back upstairs, frowning as he sees Jiyong waiting for him, looking incredibly smug.  
  
“No girl?” He asks, folding his arms across his chest.  
  
“What girl?” Seunghyun returns easily, meaning  _no more girls_. He really doesn’t like them much anyway; they’re far too needy.  
  
Jiyong laughs. He still looks strikingly human, his skin just the right shade, his hair just the right shape, his nose undeniably protruding from his face. “Did you have enough to eat?” Seunghyun asks.  
  
“If I say no will you let me feed from you?” Jiyong actually looks hopeful, and Seunghyun realizes that he’s done for. Jiyong is alluring and beautiful and something Seunghyun thought he’d never get to have, but now does.   
  
“Yes,” Seunghyun says easily. Jiyong looks surprised for about two seconds before his face lights up, positively elated, and he lays himself across Seunghyun and bites into his neck. Seunghyun barely feels it, his senses too overwhelmed by the pressure of Jiyong’s body against his, the slide of his mouth and tongue along his neck, the silk of Jiyong’s hair against his cheek. Seunghyun breathes in raggedly, dragging a hand up Jiyong’s spine to encourage him, “ _Jiyong_.”  
  
The shape shifter lets out a little sigh of his own, and Seunghyun realizes, a second too late, that Jiyong’s kissing up his jawline, blood entirely forgotten, and before Seunghyun can move, Jiyong’s mouth settles warm on his, and they stay there for a moment, invading each other’s space, noses brushing, before it’s actually a kiss.   
  
“You said--“ Seunghyun begins tentatively, when he pulls away to take a breath.  
  
“I want,” Jiyong finishes, “I,” he takes a deep breath, “I  _want_  you.”  
  
“We want,” Seunghyun corrects, and Jiyong’s warmth cracks through the edges of his smile (finally) and Seunghyun can do nothing against it, can do nothing but grin back, nothing kiss him back, kiss his mouth and his nose and his cheeks, and he thinks he’ll never get enough of touching Jiyong’s skin. He knows, as Jiyong arches into his hands and mouth, this is all he’ll really need.  
  
At least until Jiyong’s hand drifts underneath his shirt.  
  
“I hear that you’re very talented with your fingers,” Seunghyun challenges.  
  
Jiyong lets out a breathy laugh, “I’ll let you in on a secret,” he says. Their lips are too close for Seunghyun to care about what the secret might be and they’re kissing again, Jiyong pushing them down onto the couch, his hands roaming over Seunghyun’s body, somehow knowing exactly where to touch, where to caress, where to kiss, to get Seunghyun writhing for him. “I’m much, much better with my mouth.”  
  
Seunghyun finds out moments later, as Jiyong kisses down his stomach, that it is very true. “I like this secret,” he says deliriously and Jiyong laughs.  
  
“Trust me,” he murmurs, and a scale glints at the corner of his eye, “I have many, many more.”  
  



End file.
